Americans United - louisianahttp://au.org/tags/louisiana
enMaryland’s Mistake: Vouchers Comes To The Free Statehttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/maryland-s-mistake-vouchers-comes-to-the-free-state
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Maryland&#039;s new voucher plan is little more than a bailout for religious schools – with the bill being handed to the taxpayer.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Maryland recently became the latest state to adopt a school voucher program that will benefit mostly religious schools. The state will spend $5 million on the program, which is aimed at low-income students in Baltimore.</p><p><em>The Washington Post</em> is ecstatic. The newspaper, which constantly promotes vouchers on its editorial page, recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-education-breakthrough-in-maryland/2016/04/08/2e628538-fd9a-11e5-886f-a037dba38301_story.html">published an editorial</a> that reads like a string of talking points from the Cato Institute.</p><p>According to <em>The Post</em>, legislators in Maryland who had previously opposed vouchers changed their minds after being lobbied by lawmakers from Baltimore. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) supports the plan, which was inserted into the state budget.</p><p>Observed the newspaper, “They stressed the urgency of helping young black men in the city. Education…is key to better futures, and the unrest that followed the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/who-was-freddie-gray-and-how-did-his-death-lead-to-a-mistrial-in-baltimore/2015/12/16/b08df7ce-a433-11e5-9c4e-be37f66848bb_story.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com">death</a> of Freddie Gray last April shone new light on the shortcomings of the public school system and the injustice that does.”</p><p>Freddie Gray was a 25-year-old man who was arrested by Baltimore police in April of 2015 for possessing a switchblade. He received rough treatment in police custody and later died of a broken neck. Six police officers have been charged in his death. The legal cases against them are ongoing.</p><p>It’s clear this was a tragic incident. What’s not so clear is how vouchers might prevent it from happening in the future. </p><p><em>The Post</em> goes on to celebrate the fact that private schools taking part in the voucher plan will be tested and won’t be permitted to discriminate against students on the basis of “race, color, national origin or sexual orientation.”</p><p>The testing requirement sounds nice, but we know from history that once these programs are established, testing mandates will never be allowed to disrupt the money stream. In Wisconsin, home of the nation’s first voucher program, voucher students <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/blog/dpi-wisconsin-voucher-schools-show-lower-test-scores-compared-to/article_df494180-cd29-538a-80be-a923cded39aa.html">have performed worse</a> on standardized tests than kids attending public schools. None of this mattered to Gov. Scott Walker and his supporters, who last year actually expanded the voucher program.</p><p>In Louisiana, a <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/louisianas-controversial-voucher-program-harms-poor-students-lowers-grades-new-study-2258417">recent study</a> of the voucher program there revealed that students with vouchers performed worse on standardized tests – as much as 50 percent worse in math scores in particular – than their peers who were not in the program. Again, no one is talking about shutting it down.</p><p>As for the anti-discrimination provision, take a look at that list again. Do you notice something missing from it? That’s right – religion. If the pattern in other states with voucher plans holds true, most of the participating schools in Maryland will be religious in nature. They’ll reap a bounty from the taxpayers and still retain the right to refuse admission to or expel any student who fails to meet their theological litmus test.</p><p>Finally, <em>The Post</em> crows about a federally funded voucher program in Washington, D.C., which, it claims, “has improved academic outcomes for participants and spurred improvements in public schools.”</p><p>The editors of <em>The Post</em> keep asserting this, but it’s not true. Several objective studies of the D.C. plan have been conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. They show <a href="https://www.au.org/files/NCPE%20Debunking%20Myths%20About%20the%20DC%20Voucher%20Program%202015%20Update%20Final_0.pdf">no student improvement</a>. In addition, the D.C. plan, as in other states, has been plagued with <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/december-2015-church-state/featured/failed-experiment">shoddy schools</a> of questionable quality.</p><p>There’s also no evidence that the D.C. voucher plan has spurred the public schools to improve. Yes, D.C.’s public system is doing better these days, but no one has proven that this is due to the voucher plan. If you can’t show a connection between the two events, you’ve merely invoked the <em><a href="http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/post-hoc/">post hoc fallacy. </a></em></p><p>These days, the biggest supporters of vouchers tend to be people and groups that just don’t like taxpayer-funded public services, which they oppose on ideological grounds (think Koch Brothers). They are joined by lobbyists for the Catholic Church, which is eager to win tax support for its shrinking network of private schools.</p><p>There’s a great irony here: The anti-government types worship at the altar of the free market, yet they have joined forces with church officials seeking state help to prop up a school system, that even many Catholics have decided they don’t want to attend.</p><p>In short, the Maryland plan is little more than a bailout for religious schools – with the bill being handed to the taxpayer.</p><p>Sadly, the voucher con doesn’t even achieve its purported main goal: helping low-income students get a better education. A $5 million program may peel a small percentage of Baltimore kids away from public institutions, but most will remain in those schools.</p><p>Instead of weakening public education by siphoning money away to private, religious schools that elevate preaching over teaching and retain the right to kick anyone out who doesn’t agree, Maryland lawmakers would have done better to focus on the public schools that need help. After all, these are the institutions that are educating the vast majority of Maryland’s young people.</p><p>P.S. Every time we write about this topic, someone at Cato or the Heritage Foundation manages to put down his copy of <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> long enough to write to us and insist that “gold standard” studies show that vouchers work. The only problem with this is that the studies they cite don’t show that – as even some former voucher advocates are <a href="https://dianeravitch.net/2016/03/07/christopher-lubienski-new-studies-on-vouchers-show-harm-to-students/">now admitting</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/maryland">Maryland</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/cato-institute">Cato Institute</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/vouchers">vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/larry-hogan">Larry Hogan</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/freddie-gray">Freddie Gray</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/washington-post">The Washington Post</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/wisconsin">Wisconsin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/scott-walker">Scott Walker</a></span></div></div>Mon, 11 Apr 2016 15:16:10 +0000Rob Boston11887 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/maryland-s-mistake-vouchers-comes-to-the-free-state#commentsIntelligence Test: Justice Scalia And The Limits Of Brilliancehttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/intelligence-test-justice-scalia-and-the-limits-of-brilliance
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Scalia lacked empathy, and he fell down when it came to understanding how his rulings affected the lives of others.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>As I sift through the news in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, there’s one word I keep seeing over and over again: Brilliant.</p><p>We’re told that even if you disagreed with Scalia’s extremely conservative views, you must stand in awe of his brilliance, his genius, his searing wit.</p><p>Fair enough. I have observed Scalia in action many times at the Supreme Court over the past 28 years. I don’t doubt that he was a pretty smart guy.</p><p>But I also know that there are different kinds of intelligence, and I suspect that Scalia excelled at some and failed at others.</p><p>There is technical knowledge – the ability to learn facts, to gather information and synthesize it and then apply what you’ve learned to the world around you. There’s the ability to present a clever and glib argument. There’s the power to project your views with confidence and state what you believe boldly and be able to defend it in the face of a withering counter-argument.</p><p>Scalia could do all of those things. Where he failed, I would assert, is in the area of what we might call social or emotional intelligence. Specifically, he lacked empathy, and he fell down when it came to understanding how his rulings affected the lives of others.</p><p>When LGBT Americans petitioned the courts for their rights, Scalia couldn’t be bothered. His vision of the Constitution didn’t encompass them. End of story. When women sought reproductive rights (not just legal abortion but increasingly even access to contraceptives) Scalia applied a cold and narrow formula that failed even to acknowledge the human costs of his actions.</p><p>Scalia was a big fan of the idea that government should be able to “honor” our traditions by endorsing religion in a general way. (This concept, by the way, is found nowhere in our Constitution – so much for “originalism.”) He didn’t seem to understand or to care how various forms of government-sponsored religion infringed on the rights of the people who don’t share those views.</p><p>The combative jurist even seemed to believe that some overtly religious symbols could have a secular interpretation, something any theologian worth his or her salt would dispute. During an oral argument in 2009, Scalia failed to grasp why anyone would be bothered by the idea of a cross being used as a war memorial. Showing a remarkable degree of cultural blindness, he argued that you see crosses all the time in cemeteries. Peter Eliasberg, an attorney arguing the case for the ACLU, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/10/scalias_stance_that_cross_hono.html">had to explain to him</a>, “It’s erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all the war dead. I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew.” </p><p>Scalia joined the high court in 1986. One of his first church-state cases was 1987’s <em><a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1986/85-1513">Edwards v. Aguillard</a></em>, a dispute from Louisiana challenging a state law that required creationism be taught alongside evolution in public schools. The law was struck down 7-2. Scalia was in the minority.</p><p>A few months after that ruling came down, I heard Scalia speak at an event in Washington, D.C. A scientist was bothered by his dissent and asked Scalia about it. Scalia seemed oblivious. He refused to accept that creationism is religion, and he truly didn’t understand the danger of subjecting millions of children to non-scientific concepts in public schools. (He was, it seems, not so brilliant about science.)</p><p>Scalia’s church-state views reflected a majoritarian streak. Relegating millions of Americans to second-class citizenship didn’t bother him a whit. This self-described “<a href="http://www.catholicreview.org/article/work/justice-scalia-urges-christians-to-have-courage">fool for Christ</a>” seemed to have a difficult time understanding why other Americans might not care to join him and why minority rights are just as important as majority ones.</p><p>Technical intelligence is great, but it will take you only so far. Truly brilliant people at least try to get into the heads of those who are not like them. Smart people evaluate their own actions, attempt to assess the fallout from what they do and, at some point, ask, “What if there – by the grace of God or otherwise – were to go I?”</p><p>A person of true intelligence grapples with these issues. They can keep you up at night; such people know that brilliance lacking at least some degree of kindness, empathy and care for others is of little value.</p><p>I don’t believe Scalia was ever troubled by such questions. He slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that he was always right and that if his rigid and doctrinaire interpretation of the Constitution meant that a few people had their rights mauled in the process, so be it. </p><p>You can call that many things. “Brilliant” isn’t one of them.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/judicial-nominations">Judicial Nominations</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/antonin-scalia">Antonin Scalia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court-0">the Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/peter-eliasberg">Peter Eliasberg</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/creationism">creationism</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span></div></div>Wed, 17 Feb 2016 15:08:17 +0000Rob Boston11745 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/intelligence-test-justice-scalia-and-the-limits-of-brilliance#commentsScathing Study: La. Voucher Students Were Better Off In Public Schoolshttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/scathing-study-la-voucher-students-were-better-off-in-public-schools
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">There is now solid evidence that vouchers do not improve student academic performance and are a bailout for academically weak sectarian schools. It is long past time to end the Louisiana Scholarship Program and this should be the nail in its coffin.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>An independent research group that has employed dozens of Nobel Prize winners recently <a href="http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/14757514-123/vouchers-cripple-academic-achievement-national-report-says">uncovered some devastating data</a> about Louisiana’s voucher program: Students who participate in the scheme actually do worse academically than if they had stayed in public schools.</p><p>The Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) was championed by former Gov. Bobby Jindal, even though it unconstitutionally <a href="https://au.org/church-state/may-2013-church-state/people-events/louisiana-voucher-plan-subsidizes-religion-au-warns">subsidizes religious schools</a> with taxpayer dollars, <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/school-for-scandal-the-louisiana-voucher-plan-just-gets-worse-and-worse-and">lacks government oversight</a> and has <a href="https://au.org/church-state/february-2014-church-state/people-events/louisiana-voucher-program-scored-for-lack-of">stalled federal court orders regarding desegregation</a>.</p><p>Those reasons alone should be enough to kill the program, which cost the Pelican State $42 million this year. Now a new piece of evidence removes any doubt whatsoever about whether or not this “school choice” scheme needs to go. </p><p><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjG4aPsmuHKAhXFoD4KHZPgCigQFggcMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nber.org%2Fpapers%2Fw21839&amp;usg=AFQjCNFDIjv8y3J-pPWVqvbalfVWlE8MQA&amp;sig2=GPY-_dDDEuCo1XqUNs2o2g&amp;bvm=bv.113370389,d.dmo">A study</a> by the Massachusetts-based, non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that students who switched from a public school to a private school after receiving a voucher performed worse in math, reading, science and social studies than they had the year before.</p><p>The study, which covered the first year that the LSP was available statewide (2012-2013), revealed that voucher students regressed particularly in math. In fact, a student who received a so-called “scholarship” was 50 percent more likely to earn a failing math score on standardized tests than if he or she had remained in a public school.</p><p>“Voucher effects for reading, science and social studies are also negative and large,” asserts the study. “The negative impacts of vouchers are consistent across income groups, geographic areas, and private school characteristics, and are larger for younger children.”</p><p>The study pointed to the large percentage of religiously affiliated private schools accepting voucher students as part of the problem. Many of those schools, the study found, were having trouble staying open – until vouchers bailed them out.</p><p>“This fact suggests that the LSP may attract a negatively-selected set of private schools struggling to maintain enrollment,” it says.</p><p>So bad were the results, said Christopher R. Walters, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and an author of the study, that students who received vouchers would have been better off even in an underperforming public school.</p><p>Although Jindal is out of office, many voucher backers remain in Louisiana, including state Superintendent of Education John White. In response to the findings, White offered a rather weak rebuttal. He claimed that students in the LSP are doing much better since that first year. Unfortunately for White, his standard for improvement is apparently pretty low. He said 41 percent of voucher students passed for their grade level in math and reading tests in 2013, compared with 47 percent in 2015.</p><p>Even if those numbers are accurate, the LSP still gets a F. A tiny bit of improvement by students in voucher schools doesn’t change the fact that they would have been better off without a voucher, or that the majority of those students still failed to pass their exams.</p><p>Although the results of this study are not surprising to anyone who observes voucher programs, it is unusual to get this sort of data on academic performance. Voucher students are infrequently tested because “school choice” proponents are afraid of what the findings will be, plus they don’t want government interference even though they’re receiving government funds. As the NEBR study proves, voucher advocates clearly have reason to be afraid.</p><p>There is now solid evidence that vouchers do not improve student academic performance and are a bailout for academically weak sectarian schools. It is long past time to end the LSP and this should be the nail in its coffin.</p><p>It’s your move, Louisiana lawmakers. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/vouchers">vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-choice">school choice</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bobby-jindal">Bobby Jindal</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/national-bureau-of-economic-research">National Bureau of Economic Research</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/superintendent-of-education-john-white">Superintendent of Education John White</a></span></div></div>Fri, 05 Feb 2016 18:07:05 +0000Simon Brown11725 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/scathing-study-la-voucher-students-were-better-off-in-public-schools#commentsWhat ‘School Choice’ Advocates Won’t Tell You: Voucher Programs Lack Civil Rights Safeguards http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/what-school-choice-advocates-won-t-tell-you-voucher-programs-lack-civil
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Americans United opposes school vouchers primarily because they are an opportunity for private, religious schools to get a government-funded bailout. After all, nearly two-thirds of the D.C. voucher schools participating in 2014-2015 were faith based.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>It’s “National School Choice” week once <a href="https://schoolchoiceweek.com/about">again</a>, which means religious groups and others who think the government should support their schools through taxpayer-funded vouchers are about to hit you with a <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/school-choice-week-don-t-buy-the-lie">load of propaganda</a>.</p><p>But here’s something “school choice” advocates don’t want you to know: Plenty of voucher schools fall short of federal civil rights requirements, such as those in Title VI, Title IX, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Among the state-level schemes that violate some of these statutes is Louisiana’s voucher program, which has been cited by the federal government for <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voucher-swamp-audits-of-louisiana-s-school-choice-program-find-oversight">stalling court-ordered desegregation efforts</a>.</p><p>One other particularly glaring deficiency at many of these schools is their subpar (or non-existent) accommodations for students with disabilities. Take the Washington, D.C., private school voucher program – <a href="https://au.org/church-state/december-2015-church-state/featured/failed-experiment">a controversial, federally funded ploy</a> that has been around since 2003. An analysis by Americans United’s legislative department found that of the 57 schools participating in the program for the 2014-2015 academic year, 20 (35 percent) offered no wheelchair access.</p><p>Another seven schools (12 percent) offered limited wheelchair accessibility, for a total of 47 percent of participating schools that have limited or no access for students reliant upon a wheelchair. And in case you’re wondering what limited accessibility consists of, in some cases access is limited to the first floor of a building or exists “for some grades only.”</p><p>As if all that wasn’t bad enough, six of the 57 D.C. voucher schools (11 percent) were not accredited for 2014-2015 while another seven (12 percent) had their accreditation listed as “in progress” at the time.</p><p>One of the D.C. voucher schools with an accreditation in progress was the Academia de la Recta Porta International, which is squeezed between rundown storefronts. It consists of just two classrooms.</p><p>The school’s music program, <em>The Washington</em> <em>Post</em> reported in 2012, includes a keyboard and a drum. The facility has no gym, so students must go two miles away to a recreation center for exercise. There is no library. The institution also shares space with a religious organization called New Dimensions Kingdom Min­i­stries.</p><p>Despite these bleak realities – and the fact that <a href="https://au.org/blogs/legislative/us-department-of-education-report-shows-continued-shortcomings-of-dc-voucher">studies revealed numerous shortcomings</a> with the scheme – many federal lawmakers want to reauthorize the D.C. voucher program, which is set to expire this year. On Oct. 21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to fund the program with $20 million annually through 2021. The vote was 240-191. The only new regulation added is that from now on, participating private schools will have to secure accreditation within five years, but even that requirement is limited by an additional one-year grace period. A companion bill was pending in the Senate, but has not yet passed. </p><p>Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to Washington, D.C. There are currently private school voucher and tuition tax credit programs in 28 states. At this time last year, that number was 23.</p><p>Americans United opposes school vouchers primarily because they are an opportunity for private, religious schools to get a government-funded bailout. After all, nearly two-thirds of the D.C. voucher schools participating in 2014-2015 were faith based.</p><p>If you value public education and church-state separation, “School Choice Week” is a great time to <a href="http://cqrcengage.com/au/home">let your legislators know</a> how you feel about vouchers. Don’t let <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=122683&amp;page=1">a minority</a> of well-funded, well-organized interest groups get their way just because they make a lot of noise.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-choice-week">School Choice Week</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/washington-dc-0">Washington D.C.</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span></div></div>Mon, 25 Jan 2016 14:46:57 +0000Simon Brown11684 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/what-school-choice-advocates-won-t-tell-you-voucher-programs-lack-civil#commentsThere He Goes Again: Justice Scalia Continues Attacking Religious Neutralityhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/there-he-goes-again-justice-scalia-continues-attacking-religious-neutrality
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Despite what Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia seems to think, the god of ceremonial deism doesn’t hark back to the founders, and our secular Constitution serves to rebuke the wayward justice.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The government, at least in theory, is supposed to be neutral on matters of theology, neither favoring religion nor irreligion.</p><p>In a 1989 case called <em><a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/489/1.html">Texas Monthly v. Bullock</a></em>, Justice William Brennan wrote, “In proscribing all laws ‘respecting an establishment of religion,’ the Constitution prohibits, at the very least, legislation that constitutes an endorsement of one or another set of religious beliefs or of religion generally.”</p><p>That’s what the high court said. But you don’t have to look beyond the money in your pocket, which is embossed with “In God We Trust,” to see that they didn’t really mean it.</p><p>And if one Supreme Court justice has his way, the court will make it explicit that it didn’t mean it.</p><p>Antonin Scalia, speaking at Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, La., on Saturday, <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCALIA_RELIGION_SPEECH?SITE=AP&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&amp;CTIME=2016-01-02-15-30-00">told a crowd</a> that nothing in the Constitution requires the government to be neutral between religion and non-religion.</p><p>“To tell you the truth, there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition,” Scalia said. “Where did that come from? To be sure, you can’t favor one denomination over another but can’t favor religion over non-religion?”</p><p>According to the Associated Press, Scalia opined that there is “nothing wrong” with ceremonial endorsements of religion by government officials. He added that our nation must honor God because God has treated the United States well.</p><p>“God has been very good to us,” Scalia remarked. “That we won the revolution was extraordinary. The Battle of Midway was extraordinary. I think one of the reasons God has been good to us is that we have done him honor. Unlike the other countries of the world that do not even invoke his name we do him honor. In presidential addresses, in Thanksgiving proclamations and in many other ways.</p><p>“There is nothing wrong with that, and do not let anybody tell you that there is anything wrong with that,” Scalia added. He also said that courts should not “cram it down the throats of an American people that has always honored God on the pretext that the Constitution requires it.”</p><p>These comments are nothing new for Scalia. In fact, he has been delivering similar speeches at religious institutions for a several years now. In October of 2014, for example, Scalia told a crowd at Colorado Christian University, “We do Him [God] honor in our Pledge of Allegiance, in all our public ceremonies. There’s nothing wrong with that. It is in the best of American traditions, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. I think we have to fight that tendency of the secularists to impose it on all of us through the Constitution.”</p><p>At that time, I noted in <a href="http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/everyone%E2%80%99s-god-is-no-one%E2%80%99s-god-antonin-scalia-and-the-scourge-of-%E2%80%98ceremonial-deism%E2%80%99">a column for the American Constitution Society</a> (ACS) that Scalia is essentially advocating for a kind of establishment of the god of “ceremonial deism,” a sort of generic, watered down pseudo-religion that courts have conjured up as a way of allowing things like “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on money to continue.</p><p>There are <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/march-2015-church-state/featured/symbols-and-civil-religion">several problems with ceremonial deism</a>, but chief among them is that it celebrates a god that no one worships – or should want to worship, for that matter. As I noted in the ACS column, the courts are laboring under the delusion that the god of ceremonial deism is everyone’s god – but in reality it is no one’s god.</p><p>Despite what Scalia seems to think, the god of ceremonial deism doesn’t hark back to the founders, and our secular Constitution serves to rebuke the wayward justice. Instead, the deity Scalia so prizes was created in the 1950s to smack down “godless communism” and link god and country to serve jingoistic, xenophobic and nationalistic goals. It still frequently plays that role today.</p><p>An echo of this thinking is found in Scalia’s assertion that “God has been very good to [America]” – a bit of unsophisticated theological doggerel akin to a sibling boast that mom likes me better than you. People throughout history have believed God to be on their side – often just before they do something horrible.</p><p>Scalia has been on the court since 1986. In March, he will be 80 years old. Although he appears vigorous, there’s a good chance he’ll have to retire in the next few years. With any luck, his views on church-state relations, which seem to be anchored in the late-19th century (as does much of Scalia’s worldview), will go out the courthouse door with him and never return.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/legal-foundations-church-state-separation">Legal Foundations of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/antonin-scalia">Antonin Scalia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/william-brennan">William Brennan</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court">Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ceremonial-deism">Ceremonial Deism</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span></div></div>Mon, 04 Jan 2016 15:25:28 +0000Rob Boston11654 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/there-he-goes-again-justice-scalia-continues-attacking-religious-neutrality#commentsGrowth Industry: New Study Illustrates How Creationist Tactics Keep Evolving http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/growth-industry-new-study-illustrates-how-creationist-tactics-keep-evolving
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-e-jones">Sarah E. Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It’s an innovative approach, and his results, which were published last Thursday in Science, support the argument that “academic freedom” bills are really intended to create a loophole that can be exploited by educators sympathetic to creationism. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A new study says that a single county policy spawned at least 65 bills to promote creationism in American public schools. Nicholas J. Matzke, a phylogeneticist based at the Australian National University, traced the bills back to <a href="http://archive.thenewsstar.com/assets/pdf/DI514301129.PDF">a 2006 Ouachita Parish, La., curriculum policy</a> that encouraged teachers “to help students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories.”</p><p>Considered out of context, Ouachita Parish’s policy sounds innocuous. But Matzke argues that it opened a door that had been ostensibly shut by Judge John E. Jones’ 2005 verdict in <em>Kitzmiller v. Dover</em>. That case, brought by Americans United in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and the law firm of Pepper Hamilton, determined that the Dover, Pa., school district had violated the First Amendment by teaching intelligent design (ID) in science classes.</p><p>It was a significant setback for creationists, who’d argued that ID had real scientific evidence to support it and therefore belonged in public schools. Matzke’s study showed that despite the loss, creationists wasted little time adapting their tactics. The Ouachita Parish was the first so-called “academic freedom” law to respond to <em>Dover</em>, and despite its name it unquestionably had religious roots.</p><p>The “creationist origins of modern antievolution strategies are clear,” he wrote, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-evolution-of-creationism-in-schools-20151217-story.html">as quoted by Los Angeles <em>Times</em>.</a></p><p>“This tactic appears to be an attempt to circumvent earlier legal decisions suggesting that targeting evolution alone is prima facie evidence of religious motivation and, thus, unconstitutional,” Matzke added. “An additional motivation may be the dislike of climate change research by economic and religious conservatives.”</p><p><a href="http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2015/12/17/10434458/creationism-is-evolving">In an interview with Vox</a>, Matzke said state legislatures directly copied the Ouachita Parish policy, sometimes word-for-word. “You can make a more specific analogy to diseases,” he explained. “We know that microbes evolve. They evolve to get around the immune system. They evolve to become sneakier. Animals evolving camouflage to avoid predators and stuff like that. We’re really seeing that happen with these creationist bills. The more obvious forms of these bills got shot down.”</p><p>Matzke applied statistical phylogenesis to organize the bills into a sort of legislative “family tree.” It’s an innovative approach, and his results, which were published last Thursday in <em>Science</em>, support the argument that “academic freedom” bills are really intended to create a loophole that can be exploited by educators sympathetic to creationism. Matzke knows all about this, of course: He once worked for the NCSE. </p><p>It’s fitting that Matzke published his findings last week, days before we marked the 10th anniversary of the <em>Dover </em>ruling. That verdict endures as a real victory for religious freedom and science education advocates. But followers of the Religious Right have proven repeatedly that they’re able to adjust as necessary. This is true of their campaign to advance creationism, and it’s true of other “culture war” fights, too.</p><p>Consider marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned bans on marriage equality, but the Religious Right has hardly given up the fight. Instead, its leaders have focused their energies on obstructing anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT people.</p><p>Their determination shouldn’t be a surprise. To religious fundamentalists, these issues are really matters of doctrine; they believe they are advancing absolute truths. The Constitution, of course, flatly prohibits legislators from basing policy on dogma – whether the subject is marriage or science education.</p><p>That’s simple enough to understand. Matzke’s study makes it clear that some legislators just don’t intend to concede. In the face of a defeat, they (ironically) evolve and come up with a new strategy. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/creationism-evolution">Creationism &amp; Evolution</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/creationism">creationism</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/intelligent-design">Intelligent Design</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/kitzmiller-v-dover">Kitzmiller v. Dover</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/national-center-for-science-education-ncse">National Center for Science Education (NCSE)</a></span></div></div>Tue, 22 Dec 2015 16:37:03 +0000Ms. Sarah E. Jones11611 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/growth-industry-new-study-illustrates-how-creationist-tactics-keep-evolving#commentsThe Zealots Strike Back: Latest Religious Right Sputtering Over Marriage Equality Is More Weak Tea http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/the-zealots-strike-back-latest-religious-right-sputtering-over-marriage
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Leaders of the Religious Right continue to hold out hope that one state will attempt to &#039;nullify&#039; the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>I’ve been monitoring the Religious Right’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, and I’m not impressed.</p><p>So far, the reaction of these groups has been limited to championing the cause of lazy government clerks who don’t want to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-clerk-casey-davis-ordered-comply-law-gay-marriage-n389851">do their jobs</a>, issuing <a href="http://defendmarriage.org/">tepid statements</a> full of sound and fury but that signify nothing and getting all excited over the possibility that some government official somewhere might decide to be foolish enough to defy the decision.</p><p>Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council is, for example, swooning over the fact that some members of the Louisiana Supreme Court have <a href="http://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20150710/supreme-court-logic">criticized the ruling.</a></p><p>The Louisiana high court had before it a case dealing with a same-sex couple who sought to have their marriage recognized to facilitate an adoption. The issue of the legality of the couple’s marriage became moot after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 26 in <em><a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf">Obergefell v. Hodges</a></em>, and it should have been a routine matter for the Louisiana Supreme Court to dismiss the case. But three justices decided to use the legal tussle as a vehicle to go off on a tangent over the <em>Obergefell</em> ruling.</p><p>In an alarming rant, Justice Jeannette Knoll accused the U.S. Supreme Court of imposing its will “over the solemn expression of the people” and warned of the “horrific impact these five lawyers have made on the democratic rights of the American people to define marriage.”</p><p>“It is a sad day in America when five lawyers beholden to none and appointed for life can rob the people of their democratic process, forcing so-called civil liberties regarding who can marry on all Americans when the issue was decided by the states as solemn expressions of the will of the people,” <a href="http://www.lasc.org/opinions/2015/14CA2090.opn.pdf">Knoll carped</a>. “I wholeheartedly disagree and find that, rather than a triumph of constitutionalism, the opinion of these five lawyers is an utter travesty as is my constrained adherence to their ‘law of the land’ enacted not by the will of the American people but by five judicial activists.”</p><p>Government officials in Louisiana, of all states, should understand the danger of subjecting the basic rights of a minority group to a majority vote. Alas, some choose to ignore the clear lessons of history.</p><p>Other Religious Right leaders continue to hold out hope that one state will “nullify” the Supreme Court’s ruling – that is, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/nullification-again/397373/">try to ignore it</a>. Again, the country learned during the civil-rights era that this won’t fly, but the gang at the American Family Association (AFA) either doesn’t know that or simply wants to ignore it.</p><p>The AFA has settled on Alabama as its primary candidate for a nullification stunt. The group probably believes it might fare well there, since that state’s supreme court is in the hands of an extremist who’s capable of just about anything, <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/april-2015-church-state/featured/court-jester">Chief Justice Roy Moore</a>.</p><p>Liberty Counsel, a Religious Right legal group housed at Liberty University, has <a href="http://www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2015/07/10/will-alabama-buck-marriage-ruling?utm_source=OneNewsNow&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=16781516&amp;utm_content=105486778159&amp;utm_campaign=20718">filed a brief</a> before the Alabama high court asking it to do, well, <em>something</em>. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, argues that Alabama doesn’t have to abide by the <em>Obergefell</em> ruling because it’s <a href="http://www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2015/07/09/staver-scotus-ruling-just-their-opinion">just the opinion</a> of five justices. (Believe it or not, this man actually got a law degree from the University of Kentucky.)</p><p>Staver and the gang at the AFA are also <a href="http://www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2015/07/13/laws-still-protect-what-obergefell-took-away?utm_source=OneNewsNow&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=16781521&amp;utm_content=105486778159&amp;utm_campaign=20333">none too happy</a> with AU’s new <a href="http://www.protectthyneighbor.org/">Protect Thy Neighbor</a> project. They aren’t the only ones. Glenn Beck’s The Blaze <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/08/are-christian-colleges-activists-next-target-following-gay-marriage-legalization/">fired a broadside</a>, and <a href="http://www.smartgirlpolitics.com/protect-thy-neighbor/">this site aimed at far-right women</a> is also distraught.</p><p>AU is keeping a close watch on developments in Alabama and elsewhere. Remember, we fought hard alongside our allies on behalf of same-sex couples in Alabama and aren’t about to let Moore and his far-right pals erect any more roadblocks to marriage equality. In short, we’ve beat them before, and if we have to we’ll do it again.</p><p>In the meantime, we’ll take the far right’s furious reaction to Protect Thy Neighbor as a sign that we’re doing something right – and we’ll keep doing it.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/marriage">Marriage</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/roy-moore">Roy Moore</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mat-staver">Mat Staver</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/glenn-beck">Glenn Beck</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/the-blaze">The Blaze</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/protect-thy-neighbor">Protect Thy Neighbor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jeannette-knoll">Jeannette Knoll</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/alabama">Alabama</a></span></div></div>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 14:43:22 +0000Rob Boston11269 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/the-zealots-strike-back-latest-religious-right-sputtering-over-marriage#commentsActivist Says La. Public Schools Teach Creationismhttp://au.org/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/au-bulletin/activist-says-la-public-schools-teach
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>In <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/bobby_jindal_runs_for_president_louisiana_governor_allowed_creationism_in.html" target="_blank">an expose published by <em>Slate </em>magazine</a>, pro-science activist Zack Kopplin revealed that many Louisiana science teachers push religion in public school classrooms.</p><p>Kopplin filed a Freedom of Information request and obtained a number of emails in which science teachers openly admitted to teaching creationism in their classrooms, often with the explicit support of school administrators.</p><p>“We will read in Genesis and them [sic] some supplemental material debunking various aspects of evolution from which the students will present,” Airline High School teacher Shawna Creamer wrote to her principal. In another email, Bossier High School principal Doug Scott told a biology teacher, “I enjoyed the visit to your class today as you discussed evolution and creationism in a full spectrum of thought.”</p><p>Kopplin also obtained a Powerpoint presentation that had been used in one school’s science class; it included information about creationism and “intelligent design” alongside evolution. Slides on evolution were preceded by a dictionary definition of “theory,” but slides on creationism and intelligent design were presented as fact.</p><p>According to Kopplin, the controversial Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) is to blame for the situation. As written, the LSEA allows science teachers to teach material that is critical of climate change and evolution. Critics like Kopplin have argued that it’s simply a loophole to permit the teaching of creationism in public schools.</p></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">AU Bulletin</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/creationism-evolution">Creationism &amp; Evolution</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11219" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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<h2><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state">
The <span class="cs-month field">July/August</span> <span class="cs-year field"><span class="date-display-single">2015</span></span> issue of <em>Church &amp; State</em>
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<h4>A Misguided Belief In ‘Christian Nation’ Theology Spurs N.C. County Officials To Exclude Minorities From Public Prayers</h4> </div>
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<h3 class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/featured/the-invention-of-a-christian-america">The Invention Of A Christian America</a></h3>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/around-the-world-israeli-soldier-avoids-jail">Around The World: Israeli Soldier Avoids Jail For Ham Sandwich</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-muslim-in">Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Muslim In Headscarf Case </a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/with-au-s-help-nj-woman-s-lawsuit-over">With AU’s Help, N.J. Woman’s Lawsuit Over License Plate Advances</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/au-wins-another-round-in-legal-battle-with">AU Wins Another Round In Legal Battle With Notre Dame Over Birth Control Access </a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/voters-in-ireland-rebuff-church-with-vote-in">Voters In Ireland Rebuff Church With Vote In Favor Of Marriage Equality</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/mo-church-can-t-demand-to-take-part-in-state">Mo. Church Can’t Demand To Take Part In State Aid Program, Court Says</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/montana-school-cancels-field-trip-to">Montana School Cancels Field Trip To Creationist Ministry After AU Complaint </a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/people-events/colo-teacher-says-religious-activity-is">Colo. Teacher Says Religious Activity Is Rampant In Public School District</a></span> </div></li>
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<div class="views-field views-field-title"> <span class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/books-ideas/one-nation-under-god">One Nation Under God:</a></span> </div></li>
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana-science-education-act">Louisiana Science Education Act</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/zack-kopplin">Zack Kopplin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span></div></div>Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:00:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11232 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/church-state/julyaugust-2015-church-state/au-bulletin/activist-says-la-public-schools-teach#commentsCreeping Creationism: La. School District Says Teachers May Use The Bible During Science Lessons http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/creeping-creationism-la-school-district-says-teachers-may-use-the-bible
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It’s no surprise all of this is happening in Louisiana because it’s exactly what Gov. Bobby Jindal wants. The creationist-in-chief works to promote religion in public schools whenever he is able.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A Louisiana school district that lets teachers use the Bible to teach creationism is doubling down on its sectarian instruction, <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/louisiana-school-defends-using-the-bible-to-present-alternative-viewpoints-when-teaching-evolution-140127/">claiming such lesson plans are permissible</a> as long as the school does not provide that material.</p><p>Bossier Parrish schools are under fire thanks to some <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/06/louisiana_science_education_school_boards_principals_and_teachers_endorse.html">stellar investigative work</a> by science education activist Zack Kopplin, an Americans United ally. Through an open records request, Kopplin obtained scores of emails proving that creationism runs rampant in Bossier Parrish’s public schools. One such email, from Airline High School science teacher Shawna Creamer to her principal, was particularly eyebrow raising.</p><p>“We will read in Genesis and them [sic] some supplemental material debunking various aspects of evolution from which the students will present,” Creamer wrote.</p><p>In response to Kopplin’s investigation, a spokesperson for Bossier Parrish schools told the <em>Christian Post</em> that there is nothing to see here because the district doesn’t endorse creationism – it’s just something individual instructors are free to explore as part of “academic freedom.”</p><p>“[The] district does not provide Creationist literature as supplements in our courses,” but does permit “use [of] the Bible as supplementary material in presenting alternative viewpoints to evolution,” the spokesperson said. “We support our teachers in engaging their students in dialogue regarding Creationism and evolution and allowing students to express their views.”</p><p>That explanation isn’t going to fly. Individual teachers do have the right to discuss creationism when teaching about the history of science, as they would any discredited idea. But they don’t need to read from the Bible to do that. And while it’s acceptable for public schools to use the Bible in certain classes, they may only do so if it is presented in an objective way – preferably as part of a larger lesson on world religions. That’s clearly not what is happening here.</p><p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://au.org/church-state/june-2015-church-state/people-events/some-la-schools-are-teaching-creationism-activist">it has become routine</a> for Kopplin to uncover hives of creationism festering in schools throughout the Pelican State. A report he issued earlier this year detailed sectarian schemes by both teachers and school board members throughout the state. This included a letter signed by several teachers in Ouachita Parish who praised Louisiana’s deceptive “Science Education Act,” a 2008 law that offers cover for teachers who push creationism on their students.</p><p>One passage of the act is particularly troubling:</p><p>“A teacher shall teach the material presented in the standard textbook supplied by the school system and thereafter may use supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner, as permitted by the city, parish, or other local public school board,” the law states.</p><p>That may not sound so bad, but the reality is it gives teachers freedom to undermine evolution. And it clearly motivated teachers, like Creamer, to incorporate the Bible into her classroom in ways that are not kosher.</p><p>It’s no surprise all of this is happening in Louisiana because it’s exactly what Gov. Bobby Jindal wants. The creationist-in-chief pushed the “Science Education Act” and works to promote religion in public schools whenever he is able.</p><p>All of these likely conflict with a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared creationism to be a religious concept unfit for public school classrooms. Naturally that case, <em>Edwards v. Aguillard</em>, concerned schools in Louisiana.</p><p>Given this precedent, Jindal’s scheme is on shaky legal ground. As Kopplin wrote in <em>Slate</em> recently, Jindal’s house of creationism could come crashing down at any time. “All it will take is for one Louisiana parent or student to sue the state for endorsing religion in public school,” Kopplin said.</p><p>Let’s hope someone will step up soon. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/creationism-evolution">Creationism &amp; Evolution</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bobby-jindal">Bobby Jindal</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/zack-kopplin">Zack Kopplin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bossier-parrish-schools">Bossier Parrish schools</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bible">Bible</a></span></div></div>Thu, 11 Jun 2015 16:39:53 +0000Simon Brown11184 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/creeping-creationism-la-school-district-says-teachers-may-use-the-bible#commentsSome La. Schools Are Teaching Creationism, Activist Asserts In Report http://au.org/church-state/june-2015-church-state/people-events/some-la-schools-are-teaching-creationism-activist
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Teachers and school board members have been scheming to push creationism in Louisiana public schools, a recent investigation asserts. </p><p>Science education activist and Americans United ally Zack Kopplin found that some Bayou State educators are doing all they can – including skirting the law – to force fundamentalist dogma into science classes. Kopplin detailed his findings in an article for <em>Slate</em>, in which he said he has evidence of a coordinated effort to bring anti-science, biblical literalist dogma into schools.</p><p>“I have evidence that it’s not just one teacher,” Kopplin wrote. “I have evidence that religion, not science, is what’s being taught systematically in some Louisiana school systems. I have obtained emails from creationist teachers and school administrators, as well as a letter signed by more than 20 current and former Louisiana science teachers in Ouachita Parish in which they say they challenge evolution in the classroom without legal ‘tension or fear’ because of pro-creationism policies.”</p><p>In the letter signed by teachers in Ouachita Parish, the word “creationism” is never used, but it is clear these educators intend to give it at least equal weight with evolution.</p><p>“We, the undersigned science educators in Ouachita Parish, have seen a positive impact on our students as a result of the Ouachita Parish School Board’s Science Curriculum Policy…. We are able to scientifically answer questions and show how widely held ‘theories’ have discrepancies in them,” they wrote.</p><p>That widely held “theory” is evolution, and it is clear that these rogue teachers are using the idea of academic debate as an opportunity to thrust creationism into the classroom in the hope that they can undermine evolution.</p><p>As for Ouachita’s policy, which was created in 2006 and obtained by Kopplin, it states teachers are able to “review, analyze, and critique in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses” of theories that “may generate controversy (such as biological evolution).”</p><p>Kopplin said he obtained emails from Ouachita Parish that offer more evidence that creationism runs rampant there. He said two teachers at West Monroe High shared some of the questions that they ask their students in an attempt to promote reasoning skills. One question they employed was: “Name an evolutionary change that would support both the big bang theory and creationism?” The answer: “snake leg nubbs” (sic).</p><p>One former Ouachita science teacher who is now an administrator, Danny Pennington, created an anti-evolution DVD. It consists of footage of Pennington undermining evolution in the classroom. A creationist named Charles Voss who saw the DVD told Pennington in an email obtained by Kopplin: “The DVD you made in the classroom is needed to show what a teacher can do in a single period. You literally destroyed evolution in one 40-minute period.”</p><p>None of this would be possible without the support of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. He pushed the Lou­isiana Science Education Act, which despite its name, actually lets teachers attack science by including in their curriculum “supplementary” materials that are critical of evolution. Kopplin has fought for years to repeal this law but has not yet succeeded.</p></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">People &amp; Events</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/creationism-evolution">Creationism &amp; Evolution</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11140" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/louisiana">louisiana</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/creationism">creationism</a></span></div></div>Mon, 01 Jun 2015 03:45:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11166 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/church-state/june-2015-church-state/people-events/some-la-schools-are-teaching-creationism-activist#comments